Alright, I sent my babies out today and sent the tracking numbers to vemicous, jnorris, and beerrific. This will be my first time being judged by someone who isnt in fear of not getting more free beer if they are critical (my friends). I am really looking forward to the objective opinions. You are in luck! I was not able to bottle the General Tsao's in time ( my ginger and pepper beer). I gave you each the same three beers and the fourth is a second bottle of one of the brews. Hopefully it's one you liked. You should recieve:

All American Ale; brewed on Memorial day for a party on the fourth of July. My first AG brew. Simple recipe. It is marked with AAA on the cap.

Obi-Wan Kenobi's Succulent Pufferfish Brown Ale; An extract Newcastle-ish clone. The name comes from a random beer name generator found online. It was co-brewed by rookie home brewer jdtriumph. The cap reads OWKSPBA

High Gear Pale Ale; An experimental concept beer that is on the line style-wise between a Pale and an IPA. This is the greenest of the three and would not suffer if you help onto this one until last. This is capped with a black Hooch cap

Opening/pouring: nice, strong, psst when opening, poured with an inch thick head that stuck around the 20 minutes I spent drinking it

Aroma: interesting aroma, no hops detectable, very sweet and malty

Appearance: Amber in color, fairly hazy but cleared up quite a bit as it warmed

Taste: very malty and sweet but sweet in a good way, balanced so as not to be cloying but definitely not over bittered ,slight caramel on the finish, maybe a slight fruitiness but not much, could detect only a small hint of citrus hop flavor

Mouthfeel/carbonation: the carbonation was perfect, this definitely helped the mouthfeel not thin but not chewy, creamy, very nice.

Overall: good beer, definitely grew on me as I drank it (I think it was too cold to start), easy drinking definitely a session beer

I am not sure what exactly you were going for so I can't really recommend any changes. If it were me and I was making it, I would add more hops (flavor and aroma) but thats me

Aroma: A good malt aroma, little to no hop aroma though. Even after warming the beer up I could only detect a hint of something spicy.

Appearance: A good amber colour with a slight amount of haze.

Taste: Strong malt backbone. This was probably my favorite thing about this beer. At colder temps, I could only detect a hint of flavour hops. As it warmed up, the hops came through well and balanced the beer.

Mouthfeel/carbonation: Mouthfeel was middle range; not too dry, not too sweet. Very appropiate for this style. Carbonation was in range as well with a good amount of retention.

Overall: A good beer that would appeal to a wide range of people. I personally prefer more/stronger aroma hops, but I am well aware not everyone shares this taste. The malt flavor and flavor hop combination was well balanced/very tasty.

What hops did you use in this beer? I couldn't pick them out from the flavour.

Opening/pouring: came in a Dead Guy Ale bottle with a "Hard Hooch" cap, looks like something from my beer closet Poured with a weak head probably from lower carbonation, I could have pored more aggressively

Appearance: brown, towards the darker end of the Brown Ale scale but brown nonetheless, cloudy but since it is brown you can't tell (not that it matters)

Taste: malt is the main flavor present, missing some of the flavors I would expect from an English brown (fruity, nutty, etc.), but these flavors don't stick out in Newcastle that much anyway, no overwhelming hop flavor as expected, I do detect a lingering off flavor perhaps from LME?

Mouthfeel/carbonation: maybe a little thin for an English brown but maybe not, carbonation was excellent, if you could get the mouthfeel from your amber ale into this beer it would be perfect

Overall: to be quit honest I have not had a Newcastle in quit a while so I can't really comment on how close this comes. good beer, not too heavy, very drinkable

Once again in this beer swap I have gotten a beer that reminds me of a style that I like very much. I think I need to get to work on a Brown soon!

Aroma: could smell some hop aroma when I opened it but it died off pretty quickly, once in the glass it smelled of sweet, caramelly malt

Appearance: dark orange, deep copper in color, small layer of foam that stuck to the top of the beer as it was consumed

Taste: very sweet upfront, hop bitterness comes through but does not completely balance the sweetness, can taste some hops but they do not stand out as a particular flavor, ends with a kind of bitter hop flavor but again not too strong

Mouthfeel/carbonation: carbonation was nice, nice mouthfeel, finished somewhat sweet but not over the top

Overall: good beer, I think I was expecting something with a little more hop flavor and more bitterness, if I had to pick a style I would say this is closer to an American Amber IMO, probably a little maltier than a PA but not hoppy enough for an IPA

Good session beer, not to overwhelming on any front. Do you mind posting the recipe? I like to guess what kinds of hops/malts are in these beers.

recipe is in the database
the sweetness is coming from somewhere but not necessarily all from the malt.
This was an experiment that although did not go completely wrong was not what I was shooting for. I like the beer but I am taking some notes and retooling the recipe for next year. Thanks for being my guinea pig!